etsu: 2011-2014

Dancing Toward Freedom/ Siobhan Brooks

This is a personal account of an African American female stripper. In the women-ran strip club she felt that she was being discriminated against. This was because unlike white dancers, Brooks was not being scheduled as often for the private booths. This kept her from gaining as much money as the white majority workers. In response to a petition that another worker wrote, Brooks wrote one that stated “that it was unfair that Black dancers did not perform in the booth as often as other dancers, and requesting that this inequity be redressed.”

One thing that caught my attention is that a couple of years previous another black woman had done a similar petition and was told “that this is just the way the system works: white men did not want to pay extra to see Black dancers.” However, Brooks had heard white customers request Black dancers in the booth. The result of the meeting was that the once reserved 24 dollars an hour pay for people who performed in the booth, could now be achieved by women who didn’t perform there as often. Also the Black women would now rotate turns in the booth. Unfortunately as a consequence of this meeting, the women were no longer allowed to post flyers without permission, especially if it inspired political thought.